Falsa | Live Sufi Music Performances | NYC World Music Ensemble

INVOKING REFLECTION, CONVERSATION & TRANSCENDENCE | AS FEATURED ON NPR, WITH ACCLAIMED PERFORMANCES AT JOE'S PUB (Public Theatre NYC), LITTLE ISLAND NYC, BARBES Brooklyn AND MORE. Live Sufi music for events & performances. Book Now!

FOLLOW US TO STAY UPDATED! INSTAGRAM.COM/FALSAMUSIC

Purchase our Album “ American Sufi ” HERE ON BANDCAMP!

and LISTEN ON SPOTIFY: TINYURL.COM/FALSPOTIFY

Based in New York City, Falsa is rooted in 14th century Sufi music (Indian classical mysticism similar to Rumi's elevating poetry) with contemporary arrangements transcending genre-specificity and cultural preconceptions, in collaboration with a diverse array of improvisational world musicians.

A Falsa experience can range from Minimalist Meditative to Raga Jazz Fusion to high energy World Improvisation that gets you moving, to a more explosive Ritual-Communitas oriented one featuring dancers and immersive visuals. But ultimately, Falsa is about normalizing the transcendent experience.

It originally emerged as a collaboration between long-term friends and has since evolved into an exploration of what's possible when people are moved collectively by the pursuit of the intangible aspects of a communal gathering. There's a mystical culinary connection here: Falsa gets its name from a tropical berry native to India and Pakistan. And Sufi music is about a state of separation that longs for union. There was a decade in Umer's (vocalist, Falsa) life that he couldn’t return home to Pakistan from the US due to Kafkaesque immigration bureaucracies. When he finally returned and had the fruit again, it "broke through all the intellectualization and numbness I realized I had cultivated to cope, and in the process of giving myself over to the majesty of feeling I realized that home is something you cannot take with you, you have to return to it"

In our music, we want to revere and dignify the most magical aspects of experience that are gifts and not acquisitions, like reclaiming a half-remembered dream. Our music is not about means to ends, but about meaning and transcendence, about healing a wounded alienation we feel in our very highly mechanized, and in the ways that matter, poorly connected society, one performance at a time.

BOOKINGS/CONTACT: FALSA@FALSAMUSIC.COM

🎙️ FALSA | PRESS & MEDIA KIT

Transcendent Sufi Music Performance & World Music Ensemble from NYC
www.falsamusic.com | falsa@falsamusic.com
📍 Origin: Multan, Pakistan → Based in: New York City
🎼 Genre: Sufi Music | World Music | Transcultural Jazz
📸 Photo Credit: Sonyah Bansal

✨ OFFICIAL BIO

Transcendent | Sufi | Dynamic.

Falsa is a NYC-based Sufi music ensemble weaving 14th-century devotional traditions with contemporary improvisation. Rooted in the Qawwali lineage and global South Asian diasporic experience, Falsa creates soundscapes that explore longing, surrender, joy, and deep presence.

Led collectively by musicians blending Sufi Qawwali vocals, Carnatic violin, Hindustani tabla, Bass VI, Harmonium, and Drums, Falsa offers a transformative experience—bridging sacred traditions and transcultural jazz. The ensemble’s performances blend minimalist reflection with rhythmic intensity, creating immersive spaces where audiences feel more than they think.

Falsa has performed at Joe’s Pub (Public Theater NYC), Little Island, Symphony Space, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and Barbès, with upcoming engagements at the Brooklyn Museum and Aga Khan Council. Their debut album, American Sufi, is available on all major platforms.

Falsa invites listeners to engage with sacred sound as a form of reflection, healing, and communal resonance.

🎧 Listen: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
📷 Download Press Photos: Hi-Res Images/Clips
📬 Contact: falsa@falsamusic.com | falsamusic.com